Along with Halo, Gears of War is one of Microsoft's tent-pole franchises. Naturally, as the game's trilogy comes to a close, the company is protective of letting too much out of the bag early. Recently, we had a chance to check out the entire first act of Gears of War 3 ahead of launch, and while the part that we saw acted largely as a prologue, reintroducing old faces from previous games and probing Marcus' relationship with his father, it also helped put faces and names together for new appearances like Anya and Sam. Below is our extended look at what we played (click here for more general thoughts in our official preview), but be warned, this preview is chock-full of spoilers on the first act of the single-player campaign.

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　　E3 2011: Gears of War 3 Microsoft Conference Presentation

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　　The scene opened with Marcus Fenix sitting in what appeared to be a cell. New COG character Anya appeared, explaining that Fenix's father, a scientist with unknown allegiances, is in trouble. It was tough to tell fiction from reality as the game slipped into a dream sequence, and Adam Fenix explained that it is critical for his research to be saved. Combat kicks off almost immediately, and as we wandered outdoors through a typical Gears scene of ornate arches and low-slung brick walls ready to be ducked behind and vaulted over, enemies began to spawn in. We had no trouble putting them to sleep with our lancer, due to our elevated position. But just as we thought we were winning the fight, a chopper flew in, crashing into a nearby building and raining rubble down onto Marcus' father. Marcus woke up with a start, returning to reality and going in search of his old pal, Dom.

　　It looks like Dom has taken Maria's death in stride, growing out his beard and turning his hand to sustainable agriculture; he's now responsible for growing radishes on the ship the team is aboard. Although initially he was hesitant to leave his plant tending, his loyalty shone through, and he put down his trowel and picked up a rifle for the cause.

　　With the crew assembled, we headed topside to meet an incoming helicopter bearing Chairman Prescott. The reception was justifiably icy after his previous disappearing act, and although the COGs clearly weren't fans of his work, they did maintain the chain of command, obeying the commanding officer. On his way to take stock of the base, Prescott handed Fenix a disc, saying that its contents would be of interest. Not long after, we were clearing the top deck of the ship of enemies as we inched our way towards a computer terminal to decode the disc's secrets.

　　The three-year gap between Gears 2 and 3 hasn't messed with the combat formula. The left trigger aims, the right trigger makes your current target die, and active reload rewards you with a damage bonus for hitting the sweet spot when slotting in a fresh ammo magazine. Cover remains key to survival, and during our demo we were mostly able to rely on the bad guys popping up out of cover to catch a bullet in the face. Once we had finally cleared a path to a control room with a player for our particular disc type, we got only part of the story. Marcus' father told his son that he's being held captive, saying that he has a cure for the Lambent but that planet Sera is doomed from the Imulsion. Even in the future, technology is never completely reliable, and we were left hanging until Anya could decipher the rest of the message when it failed during playback.

　　Boss battles have always been part of the Gears franchise, but expect them to play a bigger role in Gears 3. As we put out fires with extinguishers, secured elevators, and eventually rode to the lower decks and back up, we came across the giant tentacles of a Leviathan and watched as it destroyed some important military tech. We had our revenge, donning one of the mechanical Silverback suits first demonstrated during Microsoft's E3 press conference, before using it to battle the Lambent-infected sea beast. Its puss-laden eyes made for good shooting, and we opened up on it with our minigun, deploying legs and switching to rockets for bigger damage. The scene ended with Baird and Cole lending a hand from a platform above, dumping a crate full of tickers onto the Leviathan below.

　　The next portion of the act screws with the very fabric of the space-time continuum; going backwards an hour, it put us in charge of Cole and squad as they arrived in Hanover, the thrashball player's hometown. There was no movement as we arrived at the scene and used the eerie silence to search out survivors. Those still living in the area fell into two distinct categories: fans or haters of Cole. After finally finding, and turning down, the generous offer of bacon from a bunch of survivors for a romantic interlude with teammate Samantha, we trudged on in search of supplies. Even in the apocalyptic future, the smart folks know that food comes from a supermarket, and as we made our way towards it, we were ambushed in a creepy kids' playground by a new enemy type: the drudge, a bipedal creature that morphs after taking damage. Long opposable arms reached out, and, if detached, rushed towards you like slithering serpents. Whilst evolution has kindly given them a raft of new abilities, they are susceptible to a few rounds in the gut, proudly displaying their orange innards and weak spot.

　　Once we'd cleared our way through the dilapidated food storage building, we conveniently located a pallet of usable supplies. Although they were just sitting there, ripe for the picking, we had a battle on our hands getting them out to the helicopter landing zone, alternating between moving them forward with a forklift and holding our position. Before we managed to get a bite, the food was safely in the air, and we continued our journey. Clay Carmine, the latest of the Carmine brothers to be thrust into combat, had a few brushes with danger during our play, narrowly avoiding eating a bullet when mistakenly thought to be Locust by a band of humans holed up in a shantytown. Cole used the homecoming mission to revel in his former life, basking in the admiration of adoring fans who recognised him and offered to help gear up the squad with ammunition.

　　With the local thrashball arena close by, and a key piece of infrastructure near it under threat from incoming forces, we made a beeline for the stadium. Path choice is still a part of Gears 3, and using all of our military mental muscle, we opted for the catwalk instead of the lower concourse, hoping to get a tactical advantage through elevation. The gamble paid off, giving us a bird's-eye view as we picked them off at our leisure. As we sauntered through the hallowed hallways of Cole's former domain, we ended up inside the locker room. Things took a trip down memory lane, as the former star reminisced about crushing tackles, the riotous applause of the crowd, and scoring the winning points. The trip again straddled the line between reality and recollection, with Cole picking up a ball-shaped bomb and rushing through Locust defenders to plant it, and the final result: a huge explosion that returned him to the present.

　　With the sports ground coming down around us, we bailed out, riding an elevator to the rooftop where a zip line waited. As we leapt from the roof and soared through the air, we took potshots at fuel tanks littering our periphery. Landing a shot caused the tank to erupt violently, taking with it any enemies stupid enough to be crowded around. Back on solid ground, and with the bridge under attack, we weaved through burning cars, used steel cargo containers as makeshift cover to avoid gunfire, and taught boomers a lesson with lancer justice. Once on top of the overpass, we faced off against a huge locust blimp, using conveniently placed mortars to send it crashing back to earth. We'll admit that we've never been much of a pro with that weapon, so it took us a couple of shots, but it was well worth it to see it burn as it plummeted from the sky.

　　As we approached the end of the roadway, it was here that the two timelines began to intersect. Dom and Marcus were battling the Leviathan below, while Cole and Baird were clearing a path towards the crate full of tickers. Pushing them over the edge, we got another look at the previous scene, this time from the perspective of the team above. Fade to black as the Leviathan bites the dust, and that was the end of the first act of the game. Gears fans shouldn't find anything drastically unfamiliar here, and, as we can only assume was the point of letting us play the game, it has whet our appetite for some more story resolution. What is Marcus' dad's role in all of this? How useful is the cure with Sera already doomed? What happened to Dom's radish farm? We'll have to wait until September 20, when Gears of War 3 is released on the Xbox 360. Stay tuned for our full review soon.